Kevyn Adams Discloses in his Presser that Eichel is No Longer the Buffalo Sabres Captain

[Doohicksie]

On 9/22/2021 at 8:58 AM, Doohickie said:

Personally I wouldn't "announce" that Eichel is no longer the captain.

So much for subtlety. 

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

It was going to happen organically and announcing it was totally unnecessary.

Is it even KA's call?  Doesn't the HC name the captain?

[SDS]

21 minutes ago, darksabre said:

That's not the point. The point is that it would have been very easy to say: Jack is hurt and as a result we are going to start the season without assigning a captain. And then eventually he gets traded and you just let it happen organically. It's that simple and drama free.

Maybe. An alternative scenario would be your suggestion being less dramatic today, before anything even begins, and drawing this out well into the season. Peeling a Band-Aid off certainly hurts less but it takes a lot longer.

lastly, there will never be a day when the captain of the buffalo sabres isn’t like one of the top three things hockey fans in Buffalo talk about.

[dudacek]

2 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

There are definitely many ways to message this.  Sounds like Adam’s chose the sledgehammer.  I won’t be able to see the Presser until tonight so  without all the context it’s hard for me tell how it came off. 
 

BTW, he can talk to the team directly.  I doubt he was using the press to send a message to the team.  

 

Watching the presser changed my mind entirely.

This was not the sledgehammer pronouncement I was expecting from the headline.

I found Adams to be calm, transparent and borderline gracious in his delivery and his message.

I would imagine the goal was to address the Eichel situation in a way that allows the organization to get its position out there clearly so they can clear the deck as much as possible in order to allow the focus to be on the players that are here.

Not sure what he could have done differently to accomplish that goal.

[klos1963]

54 minutes ago, Mustache of God said:

Unprofessional? Jack Eichel's post-season presser was the most unprofessional interview I've seen from a Captain. "My number one interest is Jack Eichel" , to paraphrase. The moment he said that I wanted the captaincy removed from him. 

It's also funny how whenever we get bland, non-answers from the GM, every complains how they never say anything and now that he directly answers a question every complains it's unprofessional? 

I liked the answer, wish we saw more of that.

Nothing wrong with a player being most concerned about his well being, the team success being right after that.

[bob_sauve28]

[darksabre]

18 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

And it sends the wrong message to the team. This guy that says he has to look out for himself, doesn’t want to be on the team, had his agent trying to force a trade publicly, refuses the surgery the doctors approve is still your captain and leader. Wow

That's just it. He wouldn't be the Captain. No one would be the Captain. The result is exactly the same but without any of the circus. They're already not going to have a Captain this season. The players know there won't be a Captain this season. They know Jack won't be the Captain because he's not coming back. So just let it be.

[Doohicksie]

46 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

I don't see how it could possibly have been kept private.

"I can't answer that question at this time. That decision is up to the head coach."

Pretty easy actually. 

[darksabre]

3 minutes ago, SDS said:

Maybe. An alternative scenario would be your suggestion being less dramatic today, before anything even begins, and drawing this out well into the season. Peeling a Band-Aid off certainly hurts less but it takes a lot longer.

lastly, there will never be a day when the captain of the buffalo sabres isn’t like one of the top three things hockey fans in Buffalo talk about.

I mean, we know the team doesn't care what the fans think anyway.

[Doohicksie]

The one advantage of the announcement is that it addresses the elephant in the room so that the team can move on, and KA, not Granato, is the heavy. I think that might be the arrangement:  KA = Bad Cop, Donny Meatballs = Good Cop

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

[Sabre Dance]

This team reminds me of an inexperienced hiker lost in the woods without a compass (or GPS). They know they are in trouble, but don't  know which direction to go to save themselves.  Everything they try to do to rectify their situation makes things worse. It's hard to imagine a worse scenario to start off a season than what is going on now...although I fear there may be much worse to come.

 

[That Aud Smell]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

There is some logic to making the move and telling the team privately as part of the 'culture shift' sending the message of don't expect him to come back and reassert himself, it's your team now. But making it public serves no purpose I can see and just twists the knife.

Any such internal news would leak within hours.

[Curt]

1 hour ago, nfreeman said:

Well, he announced it at his presser, and if it wasn't said in response to a question, the question would've certainly been asked -- probably as the 1st or 2nd question.  I don't see how it could possibly have been kept private.

Could just say, Eichel failed his physical, so he won’t be on the active roster.  The team is going to move forward with three Alternate Captains for now.

If he is going to be traded before he ever suits up for Buffalo again, then no need for the public announcement.

[dudacek]

Just now, Curt said:

Could just say, Eichel failed his physical, so he won’t be on the active roster.  The team is going to move forward with three Alternate Captains for now.

If he is going to be traded before he ever suits up for Buffalo again, then no need for the public announcement.

The question was "Is Jack Eichel still the captain of this team?"

How should he have answered it?

[inkman]

11 minutes ago, \GoBillsInDallas/ said:

How do you not go with this classic 

[Curt]

1 minute ago, dudacek said:

The question was "Is Jack Eichel still the captain of this team?"

How should he have answered it?

“Jack Eichel failed his physical, so he won’t be on the active roster and he isn’t going to apart of the locker room for now.  The team is going to move forward with three Alternate Captains, who we’ll be announcing in the coming weeks.”

Something like that.  Yes, it doesn’t directly answer the question, but if he isn’t around the team, it doesn’t really matter.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

1 hour ago, Buffalonill said:

If you all don't think we're tanking this year keywords  Continue to "draft" and "develop"

Once again ... that is not tanking.  That is a rebuild.

The Buffalo Sabres are not tanking this season.  Repeat ... not tanking.

[SabresVet]

 

4 minutes ago, Curt said:

Could just say, Eichel failed his physical, so he won’t be on the active roster.  The team is going to move forward with three Alternate Captains for now.

If he is going to be traded before he ever suits up for Buffalo again, then no need for the public announcement.

Destroying a person so publicly will have repercussions for this organization.  This isn't as visible now, but I'll remember this day when players choose to hit UFA and/or don't re-sign here.

I fail to see how this PR attempt to beat up their now former captain helps them in the long run.  Seems like Adams is focused on only this situation with Eichel regardless of the impact it has later.  And a GM has to be focused on the big picture, which Adams clearly isn't concerned with. 

[Brawndo]

3 minutes ago, dudacek said:

The question was "Is Jack Eichel still the captain of this team?"

How should he have answered it?

Right now the Sabres Organization will be moving forward without a Captain. I have had discussions with the team, ownership as well as Jack and His Representatives but those discussions will be kept private as We work towards a resolution of this situation 

[inkman]

2 minutes ago, SabresVet said:

 

Destroying a person so publicly will have repercussions for this organization.  This isn't as visible now, but I'll remember this day when players choose to hit UFA and/or don't re-sign here.

I fail to see how this PR attempt to beat up their now former captain helps them in the long run.  Seems like Adams is focused on only this situation with Eichel regardless of the impact it has later.  And a GM has to be focused on the big picture, which Adams clearly isn't concerned with. 

Free agency is fools gold.  It’s rare a star becomes available via free agency.  When they do, they almost always have a predetermined destination. 

[SabresVet]

4 minutes ago, inkman said:

Free agency is fools gold.  It’s rare a star becomes available via free agency.  When they do, they almost always have a predetermined destination. 

I didn't say another team's free agents.  

[dudacek]

9 minutes ago, Curt said:

“Jack Eichel failed his physical, so he won’t be on the active roster and he isn’t going to apart of the locker room for now.  The team is going to move forward with three Alternate Captains, who we’ll be announcing in the coming weeks.”

Something like that.  Yes, it doesn’t directly answer the question, but if he isn’t around the team, it doesn’t really matter.

 

6 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Right now the Sabres Organization will be moving forward without a Captain. I have had discussions with the team, ownership as well as Jack and His Representatives but those discussions will be kept private as We work towards a resolution of this situation 

 

Is that what you think he should have said to best represent the Sabres, or the type of reply you want to hear as a fan, or both?

Not a rhetorical question, I'm actually curious.

[K-9]

There were classier ways for KA to handle those questions, but some of what I’m reading here is way over the top. I suspect because of our insatiable need to assign blame for our disappointment. Removing a player from his captaincy is destroying a person? A PR attempt to “beat up” their former captain? Were the reporters who asked all those leading questions in on it, too? 

If the Sabres had agreed to everything Eichel wanted when he wanted it, would Eichel have wanted to stay here and play? As captain? I strongly doubt it. 

Here’s a novel idea; maybe Eichel should have done the classy thing, too,  and resigned his captaincy voluntarily. 

[Doohicksie]

8 minutes ago, Sabre Dance said:

It's hard to imagine a worse scenario to start off a season than what is going on now

I was against announcing that Jack is no longer the captain.  But now that it's out there, I'm beginning to like it.  Yes, KA is kind of a bull in a china shop, but he doesn't wilt away from an issue, he doesn't just push it off.  I think it's an exhibition of leadership that he's taking on the issue.  The buck stops with KA.  And I'm starting to think it's probably better to sweep that issue off the table.  It symbolically passes the torch, or rather rips the torch out of Jack's hand, and gives it to the team that will actually play.  A new beginning.

I keep going back to the Bills transformation:  There were several things that pissed me off at the time, that the team was abandoning sentiment for cold, calculated action.  As a fan abandoning the sentiment hurt.  How could they get rid of Sammy Watkins????  Now that the Bills have transformed, I realize it was part of the process and even though it hurt, even though it as uncomfortable, it was necessary.  Change is never easy.

Past Sabres GMs seemed to try to smooth the changes over as if to say, we're on the right course, we just have a little further to go.  KA knows that's not true and he's not acting like it.  This organization is f&*^ed up and he's not hiding that fact anymore.  He's a bull in a china shop because that's what this team needs. 

I've said before that KA feels different from other GMs.  I saw this as primarily a difference in relationship between him and the Pegulas.  I think they've decided to trust him and let him go off leash, deciding to trust him and not try to guide him (i.e., interfere).  I think he's communicating back to them, but I get the sense he's driving the bus, not the Pegulas.

I was shocked, appalled and disappointed that he actually publicly demoted Jack from the captaincy, but I'm changing my mind.  There's no subtlety here... if there's a problem, KA isn't hiding it, he's addressing it.  I think that's different from every other Pegula era GM.